J Vector Borne Dis 51, September 2014, pp.

179187

How dengue vector Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) survive during

the dry season in Dhaka City, Bangladesh?
Rajib Chowdhury1, Vashkar Chowdhury2, Shyla Faria1, M. Mamun Huda3, Runa Laila4, Indrani
Dhar5, Narayan P. Maheswary1, Aditya Prasad Dash6
1National

Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM), Mohakhali, Dhaka; 2Department of Statistics, Dhaka College, Dhaka;
for Communicable Diseases, ICDDR,B, Dhaka; 4Sarkari Bangla College, Mirpur, Dhaka; 5Kobi Nazrul Government College, Dhaka,
Bangladesh; 6World Health Organization, Regional Office for South East Asia, New Delhi, India
3Centre

ABSTRACT
Background & objectives: In 2000, a dengue outbreak occurred in Bangladesh that included Dhaka City. Both
dengue vectors, Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus are present in Bangladesh. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes mainly
breed in and around houses and Ae. albopictus is an outside breeder. There are many old trees throughout Dhaka
City in different parks, streets and the university campus which may have holes that can contribute as potential
breeding habitat for the dengue vector. Therefore, a survey was conducted to investigate the presence of eggs of
the dengue vector mosquitoes in treeholes during the dry season in February 2001 to know their contribution on
dengue outbreaks.
Methods: All treeholes in 10 different localities (parks, streets and university campus) of Dhaka City were surveyed.
All trees were examined for treeholes up to the height of approximately 3 m and sampled. Debris were collected
and packed in poly bags and brought to the laboratory for detailed studies. These were then soaked with tap water
to observe egg hatching. The soaked materials were kept up to 20 days covered by a fine mosquito net. After
23 days, the eggs started hatching and larvae were separated from the sample for rearing up to IV instar.
Results: A total of 245 treeholes were surveyed in 49 identified tree species and 18 unidentified trees. Altogether,
1365 Aedes larvae were found, of which 1096 were Aedes albopictus and 269 were other Aedes species. The
largest number of larvae was observed in Delonix regia of Leguminosae family. The number of Aedes albopictus
found in the treeholes have perfect positive correlation with the number of other Aedes species. Not a single egg
of Aedes aegypti was found in this survey.
Interpretation & conclusion: This information will inform public health workers as well as the national control
programme to help to solve mosquito borne diseases specially that of dengue. This is critical in planning for
vector control operations due to the diversity of dengue outbreak in the nature.
Key words Aedes albopictus; debris; dengue; dry season; treeholes

INTRODUCTION
Mosquitoes are the most prominent of the numerous
species of blood sucking insects that annoy human and
other warm-blooded animals. Blood sucking mosquitoes
play an important role in medical entomology1. Mosquitoes are the sole vectors of the pathogens causing malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever/dengue hemorrhagic
fever (DF/DHF), Japanese encephalitis and they are of
prime importance in spreading filariasis. Apart from yellow fever, all other four above-mentioned mosquito borne
diseases prevail in Bangladesh26.
Dengue fever (DF) and especially the more severe
manifestation dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), rank
highly among newly emerging infectious diseases in public health significance and is considered to be one of the
most important arthropod-borne viral diseases7. There

were 22,42,022 dengue cases and 14,031 deaths reported

from WHO South-East Asia Region for the period of 2003
to 20128. Dengue viruses are transmitted to humans
through the bite of infected female Aedes mosquitoes principally Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus (Asian tiger
mosquito). It was identified that Ae. albopictus was responsible for dengue transmission in Dhaka City,
Bangladesh during the outbreak in 20003. In 2001, dengue fever occurred among employees of a recreation club
in Dhaka where both vectors Ae. aegypti and Ae.
albopictus were found4.
In 2000, an outbreak of DF and DHF occurred
in Bangladesh with 5555 cases and 93 deaths910. The
outbreak was mainly in Dhaka City 11 where more
wealthy populations resided. Since then, every year cases
are being reported by the Directorate General of Health
Services (DGHS). During the last 10 yr (2003 to 2012)

180

J Vector Borne Dis 51, September 2014

12,229 cases and 46 deaths were reported from

Bangladesh8.
Treeholes are among the most widely spread class of
natural container habitats for mosquitoes; species of several genera of mosquitoes breed in them1213. It is well
known that Aedes can be collected from dry debris in
treeholes1418 observed that females of Ae. albopictus select treeholes of a wide range of properties for breeding.
Dengue antigen positive Ae. albopictus were identified
from treeholes19 which represent one of the important
natural habitat for dengue vectors in an urban environment. Though, treeholes have been identified as a potential breeding habitat for Aedes mosquitoes in other places,
we have very little information from Bangladesh. It was
expected that the current study would enrich our knowledge on dengue vectors that use treeholes as their breeding habitat. Thereafter, based on the evidence from this
study, the national progamme can take action to help control the dengue vector to reduce transmission in high endemic areas. From a national point of view, the present
study is highly important as dengue is one of the most
common vector borne diseases in the country that has a
high impact on public health.
In Bangladesh, the dry season starts in mid-November and continues to early-March. During the dry season,
most areas become dry as there is little rain. Therefore,
the present study was aimed to investigate how dengue
vectors survive during the long dry spell (winter season)
in the capital city of Bangladesh in a common natural
habitat, the treehole.
MATERIAL & METHODS
Study area
For the collection of mosquito eggs in the debris
of treeholes, altogether 245 treeholes were sampled at
10 different localities in Dhaka City in February
2001. Sampled trees were identified using a botany
book 20 . The sampling areas in Dhaka City were
Sohrawardhi Uddayan, Ramna Park, Osmani Uddayan,
Baldha Garden, Dhaka University Campus, Gulshan Park,
Shahid Capt. Mansur Ali Sarani (Mogbazar, Kakrail,
Minto Road, Baily Road and High Court Area), Sher-eBangla Nagar, Chandrima Uddayan and the ICDDR, B
premises (Fig. 1).
Collection and processing of the sample
In each area, a survey team was assigned to conduct
the survey. A survey team consisted of three research assistants (one female and two males). The members of survey team were given intensive training about the treeholes

Fig. 1: Study locations in Dhaka City.

survey procedure. For sample collection, a procedure was

maintained in which a central point was marked in each
locality and from this point, the locality was divided approximately into four parts. The collection was started
from one part and then the other parts were completed in
a cyclic manner. In each part, all trees present were examined and treeholes up to the height of approximately
3 m were sampled. In case of roads, treeholes sample collection was continued from one end to other. Collections
were made from treeholes by removing dry debris following procedures as previously described1417. Eggs were
collected by scraping the walls of treeholes following the
procedure described earlier21. In addition, for collecting
loose material from the bottom of treeholes, the inside
walls were carefully scraped with a metal spoon to recover the maximum number of eggs as previously described as well15. From the treeholes, eggs were sometime collected by filling the dry habitats with water and
then siphoning or pumping out the contents22. Standing
water or moist organic matter was also removed from
treeholes by siphoning. Collections were packed in plastic bags and were brought to the laboratory for detailed
studies.

Chowdhury et al: Dengue vectors in dry season in Dhaka City, Bangladesh

Rearing and identification of the sample

The samples were soaked with tap water to observe
egg hatching. The soaked materials were kept up to 20
days covered by a fine mesh mosquito net. After 23 days,
the eggs started hatching and larvae were separated from
the sample for rearing up to IV instar. Egg hatching was
observed for 20 days but no hatching was found after six
days. Then the larvae were counted and identified with
the help of a phase contrast stereo binocular microscope.
For identification, the larvae were temporarily mounted
by glycerine on the slides. Identifications were made as
previously described2324. Except Ae. albopictus, other
Aedes species were identified up to genus level.
Statistical analysis
The data were prepared and organized in MS Excel
spread sheet and statistical analysis was carried out using
STATA/SE 12.0 for windows (2011) package. The linear correlation between variables were calculated using
Pearsons correlation coefficient (r) and significance of
estimated correlation coefficients were tested using t statistic with appropriate degrees of freedom. The multivariate regression modeling procedure was used to predict a
set of dependent variables that have multivariate normal
distribution with appropriate mean vector and variancecovariance matrix using the same independent variable
and significance of the models was tested using F-statistic and significance of the individual slope coefficients
were tested using t-statistic. Whether the frequencies of a
categorical variable were uniformly distributed among the
categories were tested using non-parametric Chi-square
statistic. For each of the hypothesis test, probability value
(p) was calculated and compared to either 1% or 5% level
of significance (). If the p-value was less than the
value, than the test was considered as significant.
RESULTS
The numbers of Ae. albopictus and other Aedes species present in treeholes and types of tree species are
shown in Table 1. A total of 245 treeholes were found in
49 identified tree species and 18 unidentified trees. A total of 1365 Aedes larvae were observed in the laboratory.
Out of the 1365 larvae, 1096 were Ae. albopictus and the
remaining 269 larvae belonged to other species of the genus Aedes (Table 1). Of 245 treeholes surveyed, 30
(12.2%) were Aedes positive. Among these positive trees,
10 were from the family of Leguminosae. Under this family, it was observed that the largest number (larvae) was
observed for Delonix regia. Of these identified larvae,
572 were Ae. albopictus and 112 were other Aedes spe-

181

cies (Table 1). Under the Ebenaceae family, a single tree

Diospyros peregrina was surveyed and it was Aedes positive which contained 196 Ae. albopictus and 49 other
Aedes species (Table 1). In Azardirachta indica under
the family Meliaceae, four treeholes debris were examined, of which two were Aedes positive. The larvae developed from this sample were abundant with 100 Ae.
albopictus and 40 from other Aedes species. In this study,
26 Mangifera indica treeholes were surveyed, of which
three treeholes were Aedes positive. From the total 55
Aedes larvae categorised, 42 were Ae. albopictus and 13
other Aedes species (Table 1). In this survey, two positive treeholes were found from the tree species of Albizia
procera, Azardirachta indica, Tectona grandis,
Lagerstroemia parviflora with 4, 140, 9 and 9 larvae respectively (Table 1). Only one positive treehole was found
in the tree species of Averrhoa carambola, Cyclostamon
assamicus, Acacia moniliformis, Samanea saman, Ficus
benghalensis, Ochna squarrosa, Roystonea regia, Litchi
chinensis, Syzygium cumini, and Syzygium samaranese.
Relatively large numbers of larvae were found from trees
of Syzygium samaranese, Litchi chinensis and Averrhoa
carambola. No positive treehole was found in the tree
species belonging to the families of Annonaceae,
Apocynaceae, Combretaceae, Liliaceae, Magnoliaceae,
Oleaceae, Rubiaceae, Rutaceae, Rhamnaceae and
Sapotaceae (Table 1).
Out of 50 tree species surveyed, only 18 tree species
were found Aedes positive (Ae. albopictus and other Aedes
spp). The number of Ae. albopictus found in the treeholes
have nearly perfect positive correlation with the number
of other Aedes species [r (48) = 0.98, p <0.01]. The
estimated multivariate regression model results that can
predict the number of Aedes positive treeholes, Ae.
albopictus and other Aedes species from the number of
treeholes surveyed are: Number of Aedes positive
treeholes = 0.0188+ 0.1186 Number of treeholes surveyed
(R 2 = 0.59, F 1, 48 = 69.36, p <0.01); Number of Ae.
albopictus = 10.8840 + 6.6947 Number of treeholes surveyed (R2 = 0.30, F1, 48 = 20.85, p <0.01); and Number of
other Aedes species = 1.0854 + 1.3195 Number of
treeholes surveyed (R2 = 0.27, F1, 48 = 17.32, p <0.01)
(Table 2).
The percentage of positive treeholes for Aedes larvae
in different spots of Dhaka City is shown in Table 3 and
which are not equally distributed [2(8) = 159.58, p <0.01].
The highest number of treeholes was surveyed in Ramna
Park, the largest park in Dhaka City. The percentage of
positive treeholes and the number of larvae are also high
in this locality. On the basis of the larval positivity in
treeholes, Sohrawardhi Uddayan ranked in second posi-

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J Vector Borne Dis 51, September 2014

Table 1. Number of Aedes species found in treeholes by families and their species in Dhaka City in 2001
Family name of
surveyed trees
Anacardiaceae
Annonaceae
Apocynaceae

Averrhoaceae
Combretaceae
Ebenaceae
Euphorbiaceae
Leguminosae

Liliaceae
Lythraceae
Magnoliaceae
Meliaceae
Moraceae

Myrtaceae

Ochnaceae
Oleaceae
Palmae

Rubiaceae
Rutaceae
Rhamnaceae
Sapindaceae
Sapotaceae
Verbenaceae
Unknown

Total

Scientific name
of tree species

No. of treeholes surveyed

No. of Aedes
positive treeholes

Ae. albopictus

No. of Aedes mosquitoes

Other Aedes spp

Total

Mangifera indica
Lannea coromandelica
Artabotrys uncinatus
Allamanda cathartica
Nerium indicum
Plumeria acutifolia
Averrhoa carambola
Terminalia arjuna
Terminalia catappa
Diospyros peregrina
Baccaurea ramiflora
Cyclostemon assamicus
Accacia catechu
Accacia moniliformis
Acacia nilotica
Albizia procera
Butea superba
Cassia fistula
Delonix regia
Samanea saman
Saraca indica
Tamarindus indicus
Dracaena spp
Lagerstroemia parviflora
Magnolia grandiflora
Azardirachta indica

26
1
4
2
2
1
5
1
1
1
1
5
1
9
2
20
2
1
33
2
3
2
1
4
2
4

3
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
2
0
0
6
1
0
0
0
2
0
2

42
0
0
0
0
0
24
0
0
196
0
1
0
5
0
4
0
0
572
1
0
0
0
7
0
100

13
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
0
49
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
112
0
0
0
0
2
0
40

55
0
0
0
0
0
27
0
0
245
0
1
0
5
0
4
0
0
684
1
0
0
0
9
0
140

Ficus benghalensis
Ficus hispida
Artocarpus heterophyllus
Syzygium cumini
Syzygium jambos
Syzygium samaranese
Psidium guajava
Ochna squarrosa
Nyctanthes arbortristis
Areca catechu
Cocos nucifera
Roystonea regia
Gardenia jasminoides
Anthocephalus chinensis
Murraya paniculata
Citrus grandis
Alege marmelos
Zizyphus mauritiana
Litchi chinensis
Manilkara achras
Tectona grandis
Bassia latifolia
Dalbergia sissoo
Unknown

15
1
20
3
1
3
4
1
1
1
3
1
2
1
1
1
2
3
9
1
5
1
11
18

1
0
2
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
2
0
0
0

4
0
6
1
0
65
0
2
0
0
0
14
0
0
0
0
0
0
46
0
6
0
0
0

0
0
1
3
0
18
0
0
0
0
0
7
0
0
0
0
0
0
18
0
3
0
0
0

4
0
7
4
0
83
0
2
0
0
0
21
0
0
0
0
0
0
64
0
9
0
0
0

245

30

1096

269

1365

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Chowdhury et al: Dengue vectors in dry season in Dhaka City, Bangladesh

Table 2. Multivariate regression estimates for number of Aedes positive treeholes, Ae. albopictus and other
Aedes species using number of treeholes surveyed
Independent variable

Coefficient

Standard error

P>|t|

95% Confidence interval

0.0188
0.1186

0.1215
0.0142

0.15
8.33

0.878
0.0

( 0.2254, 0.2630)
(0.0900, 0.1472)

10.8840
6.6947

12.5054
1.4663

0.87
4.57

0.388
0.0

( 36.0277, 14.2598)
(3.7466, 9.6428)

1.0854
1.3195

2.7038
0.3170

0.40
4.16

0.690
0.0

( 6.5218, 4.3509)
(0.6821, 1.9569)

Dependent = Number of positive treeholes

Constant
Number of treeholes surveyed
Dependent = Number of Aedes albopictus
Constant
Number of treeholes surveyed
Dependent = Number of other Aedes species
Constant
Number of treeholes surveyed

Table 3. Percentage of positive treeholes for Aedes larvae in 10 different localities of Dhaka City
Locality

Visited treeholes

Ramna Park
Sohrawardhi Uddayan
Baldha Garden
Chandrima Uddayan
Dhaka University Campus
Shahid Capt. Mansur Ali Sarani
Osmani Uddayan
Gulshan Park
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar
ICDDR, B Premises
Total

Aedes positive
treeholes

36
16
26
21
33
24
34
20
20
15

16
5
3
2
2
1
1
0
0
0

245

30

tion (Table 3). The number of larvae positive treeholes are

comparatively low in the Baldha Garden, Chandrima
Uddayan, Dhaka University Campus, Shahid Capt. Mansur
Ali Sarani and Osmani Uddayan. Fifty-five treeholes were
visited in Gulshan Park, Shere-e-Bangla Nagar and ICDDR,
B premises, but none had found larvae.
Different sizes of treeholes with larvae by the tree
types are shown in Table 4. The highest (36%), second
highest/moderate (25%) and lowest (8%) number of Aedes
larvae positive treehole sizes were of diameter 50.162.5,
62.675 and 112.5 cm, respectively. The percentages
of Aedes larvae positive treeholes were significantly
different in different treehole sizes [2 (6) = 39.33,
p <0.01].
Types of debris collected from different treeholes and
the number of larvae present is shown in Table 5. Aedes
positive treeholes found with debris of soil; sand with
rotten wood and leaves; and granular type are 13, 8 and
15%, respectively. Treeholes with liquid debris, none of

% of positive
treeholes

44.4
31.3
11.5
9.5
6.1
4.2
2.9
0
0
0

Aedes species
No. of
Ae. albopictus

No. of
Aedes spp

Total

766
145
81
22
69
2
11
0
0
0

167
45
25
7
21
1
3
0
0
0

933
190
106
29
90
3
14
0
0
0

1096

269

1365

them found larvae positive. The percentages of Aedes positive treeholes found in different debris types were significantly different [2 (3) = 15.53, p <0.01] but excluding liquid debris from the analysis, the percentages were
nonsignificantly different [2 (2) = 2.65, p = 0.26 >0.05].
DISCUSSION
DF and DHF are major public health concerns in
Dhaka City since 2000, and are now gradually spreading
to major cities throughout the country. Due to lack of
regular vector surveillance on dengue, it is hard to know
how the vectors survive during the dry season? In this
study, we found vector eggs in the treeholes during dry
season. In this form, eggs could survive over several
months during the dry season or over winter which is
known as diapause condition. In Bangladesh, the dry season includes winter which lasts from November to midMarch25. The dry season is characterized by clear skies,

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J Vector Borne Dis 51, September 2014

Table 4. Aedes mosquito positive treeholes number by tree species and the size of the holes in Dhaka City
Tree name
Acacia nilotica
Acacia catechu
Acacia moniliformis
Aegle marmelos
Albizia procera
Allamanda cathartica
Anthocephalus chinensis
Areca catechu
Artocarpus heterophyllus
Artabotrys uncinatus
Averrhoa carambola
Azadirachta indica
Bassia latifolia
Baccaurea ramiflora
Butea superba
Cassia fistula
Citrus grandis
Cocos nucifera
Cyclostemon assamicus
Delonix regia
Diospyros peregrina
Dracaena spp
Dalbergia sissoo
Ficus benghalensis
Ficus hispida
Gardenia jasminoides
Lagerstroemia parviflora
Lannea coromandelica
Litchi chinensis
Mangifera indica
Magnolia grandiflora
Manilkara achars
Murraya paniculata
Nerium indicum
Nyctanthes arbortristis
Ochna squarrosa
Plumeria acutifolia
Psidium guajava
Roystonea regia
Samanea saman
Saraca indica
Syzygium cumini
Syzygium samaranese
Syzygium jambos
Tamarindus indicus
Tectona grandis
Terminalia arjuna
Terminalia catappa
Zizyphus mauritiana
Unknown
Total

112.5 cm
2
1
5
0
9
2
1
1
4
2
2
2
0
0
0
0
1
2
3
5
0
1
10
6
1
1
2
0
0
6
2
1
1
2
0
1
0
2
0
0
3
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
2
15

(1)

(1)

(1)
(3)

(1)

(1)

101 (8)

12.6 25 cm
0
0
0
1
5
0
0
0
8
0
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
4
0
0
1
1
0
1
0
0
4
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
0
1
0
0
1
1

(1)

(1)
(1)

(1)

40 (4)

25.137.5 cm

37.6 50 cm

0
0
2
0
4 (1)
0
0
0
3
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
5 (1)
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
2
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1 (1)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
1 (1)
1
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
5 (1)
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
1
0
1
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
1

25 (3)

23 (2)

50.162.5 cm
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
1

(1)
(1)

(1)
(1)

11 (4)

Size = Depth Diameter of the holes; Figures in parentheses indicate number of larvae positive holes.

62.6 75 cm

> 75 cm

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2 (1)
0
0
0
2 (1)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
10
1
0
0
5
0
0
1
0
0
10
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
0
0
0

8 (2)

37 (7)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(2)

(1)

(1)

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Chowdhury et al: Dengue vectors in dry season in Dhaka City, Bangladesh

Table 5. Number of larvae in treeholes by types of debris and localities in Dhaka City
Locality
Sohrawardhi Uddayan
Ramna Park
Osmani Uddayan
Baldha Garden
Dhaka University Campus
Gulshan Park
Shahid Capt. Mansur Ali Sarani
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar
Chandrima Uddayan
ICDDR, B Premises
Total

Soil*

Sand*

Granular

Liquid*

Total treeholes

10 (3)
25 (11)
14
20 (1)
17
9
15 (1)
12
8 (1)
9

3 (1)
7 (3)
2
1
5 (1)
16
4
8
4
3

1 (1)
4 (2)
18 (1)
5 (2)
10 (1)
5
5
0
8 (1)
3

2
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0

16 (5)
36 (16)
34 (1)
26 (3)
33 (2)
20
24 (1)
20
21 (2)
15

139 (17)

43 (5)

59 (8)

245 (30)

*With rotten leaves and woods; Figures in parentheses indicate number of larvae positive holes.

almost no rain and minimum daily temperature of

<510C.
Among the surveyed areas, Ramna Park appeared to
have a greater number (36) of treeholes. A large number
(933) of Aedes species larvae were found from 16 treeholes
in this park. From these identified larvae, Ae. albopictus
(766) were the most common from the total of 1096 and
other species of Aedes (167) out of the remaining 269.
Most of the treeholes debris was soil with rotten leaves and
woods. The Ramna Park area has had plantation for a long
time and have various types of trees, i.e. fruit, timber, and
flower. Most of the positive treeholes were of Delonix
regia and Mangifera indica. The older trees may have
some advantages for mosquitos oviposition. This park is
the largest in the city located in the central area, thus, is the
major recreational site for city dwellers. It was observed
that Ae. albopictus attacked humans predominately in open
areas near densely populated regions26.
Sohrawardhi Uddayan was second in larvae positivity and had about half as many larvae positive holes as
Ramna Park. Baldha is an oldest (about 200 yr) garden in
Dhaka City and most of the trees are rare and exotic varieties. It therefore could be inferred that the lowest positive treeholes were found for the more exotic tree species. Chandrima Uddayan and Osmani Uddayan have also
same type of secondary plantations for about 25 yr. For
this reason, no ideal breeding habitat was found in these
places. A large number of trees were examined in the
Dhaka University Campus but the actual reason of the
lowest Aedes positive condition is not clear. Shahid Capt.
Mansur Ali Sarani is one of the busy roads of Dhaka City,
which is also a residential area of elite people. Therefore,
the frequently use of insecticides and insecticide fogging
may disturb the mosquito habitat. No Aedes positive
treeholes were found in Gulshan Park, Sher-e-Bangla

Nagar or the ICDDR,B premises. Gulshan Park was established according to the city development plan about
20 yr ago. In Gulshan Park area, most of the city dwellers
are aristocrats and they regularly use insecticide like fogging and spraying. So, it could be suggested that the
treeholes of this area were not suitable for mosquito breeding. Sher-e-Bangla Nagar is the residential area of government high officials. The regular application of insecticide and formal cleaning activities in this area is not
suitable for Aedes breeding. Aedes negative treeholes were
also found in ICDDR,B premises. In spite of available
Aedes breeding habitat the cause of negative condition
was not clear.
In this study, 245 treeholes were surveyed with different sizes and these were arranged in seven categories
including; 112.5, 12.625, 25.137.5, 37.650, 50.1
62.5, 62.675 and >75.1 cm. Aedes positive treeholes
number were eight, five, three, two, three, two and seven,
respectively for these sizes. These findings did not suggest any implication regarding Aedes breeding habit and
treeholes sizes, which could be explained as the trees were
different.
Different kinds of treeholes debris were collected
which were differentiated into four groups, namely sandy,
soil with rotten leaves and wood, liquid and granular. Most
of the Aedes positive treehole debris were of granular and
soil with rotten leaves and wood type. Humus is present
in soil and this environment is suitable for the growing of
microorganisms. Therefore, the mother mosquitoes deposit their eggs in this type of debris for the survival of
their future generation. But the cause of comparatively
high amount of larvae in granular debris was not understood. The number of positive treeholes with sand debris
was five. In sand, the low amount of humus was present
and the result was fewer deposited eggs. Treeholes with

186

J Vector Borne Dis 51, September 2014

liquid debris in four holes were surveyed but none was

Aedes positive. The collected liquid debris contained a
large amount of decomposing materials which appeared
not to be suitable for Aedes larvae. Of 245 visited
treeholes, there were two dead trees without Aedes larvae. The surveyed number of dead trees was too few to
predict the reason for the absence of Aedes .
The major vector (Ae. aegypti) responsible for
dengue transmission was not found in this survey. This
indicates that the mosquito, Ae. aegypti does not
prefer treehole habitats for egg laying. This was also
supported by the author of Fauna of British India:
Ceylon and Burma23 but the presence of Ae. aegypti was
found in a study in southern India27. From the present
finding, it may be assumed that Ae. albopictus prefers
the treehole habitats for egg lying more than other Aedes
species.
The results of this study have thrown light on the
possible places with diapaused eggs during the dry season. In 1996, similar type of findings has in Chittagong
City (Personal communication with Professor Dr Qamar
Banu). In this study, it was also observed that there was
no other genus of mosquito which deposited their eggs in
diapause condition.
The study indicates that treeholes are a significant
breeding habitat for dengue vectors other than Ae. aegypti.
If there is an Ae. albopictus in a treehole, it was most
likely that other Aedes species were present in the same
treehole. The number of Aedes positive treeholes can be
significantly predicted from the number of treeholes. Also,
the number of Ae. albopictus and other Aedes species can
be predicted from the number of positive treeholes. If we
could survey 100 more treeholes, on an average there
would be 12 Aedes positive treeholes that can be found.
If we could find one more Aedes positive treehole, on an
average there would be about 60 Ae. albopictus and about
13 other Aedes species.
Taken together, this information will help public
health workers to address the problem of mosquito borne
diseases, specifically that of dengue. This is critical in
planning for vector control operations due to the diversity of dengue outbreak in nature.

surveyors for their sincere and highest level of scientific

inquisitiveness.
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It is a great pleasure to express our heartiest gratitude

and indebtedness to Ex-Director of ICDDR,B for providing laboratory facilities where the entire experimental
work has been carried out. We would like to convey our
heartfelt thanks to Duncan Brother Ltd. for funding of
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Correspondence to: Dr Rajib Chowdhury, National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM), Mohakhali, Dhaka1212, Bangladesh.
E-mail: rajib478@yahoo.com
Received: 25 February 2014

Accepted in revised form: 15 March 2014